Football

Anyone Like Me documentary to be screened on campus April 20-21

Apr 12, 2017

WASHINGTON - For the past two years, George Washington University graduate student Mimi d'Autremont has been entrenched with the Gallaudet University football team filming the program for her documentary Anyone Like Me. This is a story about finding yourself on a deaf football team. The culmination of all of that time shadowing the Bison will come to fruition on Thursday, April 20, and Friday, April 21, with a special screening of the documentary on campus.

The film screening will take place from 12:30 p.m. until 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 20, in the Sorenson Language and Communication Center (SLCC) Atrium. A second screening will take place from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 21, at the same location. The screenings are free and open to the public.

Anyone Like Me is a documentary project exploring the intersection of Deaf culture and America's favorite pastime: football. The Gallaudet University Bison are the world's only collegiate deaf and hard of hearing football team. This project follows coach Shelby Bean, 25, a hard of hearing man and former Bison team captain. Bean, along with his players, say before they came to Gallaudet they shared the experience of marginalization for their perceived 'disability,' and sports was often the only place they ever felt normal. When Bean came to Gallaudet as a freshman he didn't know anything about Deaf culture or American Sign Language, but through the football team he found his place within the culture and his hard of hearing identity.

"I have so much gratitude for Shelby, Katie Giles, the Bison football team and the coaching staff for allowing me to learn about the Deaf culture during my time with the program the past two years," said d'Autremont.

About Mimi d'Autremont
Mimi d'Autremont is a Washington, D.C., based photo and video journalist. She is currently earning her M.A. in New Media Photojournalism from the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at the George Washington University and will graduate in May 2017. She is originally from Portland, Ore., where she earned her B.A. in Lighting & Video Design for Theatre and Art History from Willamette University in 2013.